This week, slow core rockers Low celebrate two decades as a band with their tenth studio release, The Invisible Way (Sub Pop). The Sparhawks (Mimi and Alan) continue to weave dulcet duets and the band’s metronome seems to only go up to about 100 beats per minute (with most of its songs still residing below a tranquilized polar bear’s heart rate), but there’s nothing that seems tired or retreaded on The Invisible Way. On the contrary, songs like the campfire ballad “Plastic Cup” and the exhortatory “Holy Ghost” are worthy additions to their already distinguished catalog. And “Just Make it Stop” may rank as my favorite of their forays into mid tempo indie pop (double tracked vocals from Mimi always make me a little weak in the knees).

In addition to tour dates, there’s live video footage of the band below (courtesy of AV Club).

___

Opening for Low tonight at their show at NYC’s Society for Ethical Culture, a string quartet of our friends from ACME: Ben Russell and Laura Lutzke, violins; Caroline Shaw, viola; Clarice Jensen, cello. While we don’t have a set list from Low (we imagine a mix of songs from the new record and old favorites), ACME has confirmed that it will be performing the following pieces:

Fog Tropes II by Ingram Marshall

Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet by Gavin Bryars

Stringsongs by Meredith Monk

During the show, ACME will also play with Low.

You can hear ACME on their latest CD for New World, Joseph Byrd: 1960-1963, an important revival of the early experimental works of an artist better know for his contributions to psych rock.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 20th, 2013 at 12:41 pm and is filed under Contemporary Classical. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.